Analysis of ABO grouping discrepancies among patients from a tertiary hospital in Korea.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Accurate ABO typing is essential for preventing ABO incompatibility reactions. However, the causes of ABO grouping discrepancy has not been sufficiently studied, and it may vary among different ethnic populations. Thus, the aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the causes of ABO discrepancy in the East Asian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective observational study on ABO typing discrepancy among patients in a tertiary hospital was carried out using the electronic medical record database of Samsung Medical Center (Seoul, Korea) between July 2016 and May 2019. RESULTS: ABO grouping was performed on 551,959 blood samples during the study period; 1468 events of serologic ABO discrepancy were determined from 1334 (0.24 %) samples. A total of 134 samples (0.02 %) presented multiple causes of ABO discrepancy. Weak/missing serum reactivity (594, 40.5 %) was the most frequent reason for ABO discrepancy, followed by extra serum reactivity (370, 25.2 %), weak/missing red cell reactivity (267, 18.2 %), mixed-field red cell reactivity (176, 12.0 %), and extra red cell reactivity (61, 4.2 %). In the category of weak/missing red cell reactivity, ABO subgroup was the most common reason, and using ABO genotyping, 26.2 % of the cases genotyped were found to be related to the cis-AB allele. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the incidence and cause of ABO typing discrepancies vary among institutes and ethnic groups. Our data helps to better understand and facilitate the resolution of ABO typing discrepancies in patients.